Ousted Ducati MotoGP racer Danilo Petrucci says potential seats at the KTM and Aprilia squads “interest” him, reaffirming his ambitions to remain part of the MotoGP field beyond this season.
Petrucci’s manager Alberto Vergani initially expressed interest in securing the Italian a seat at Aprilia after revealing he had lost his Ducati berth to Jack Miller but, following the news of Pol Espargaro’s impending switch to Honda alongside Marc Marquez for 2021, KTM has also become a potential landing pad.
Petrucci-speaking to MotoGP.com-wouldn’t be drawn on which manufacturer he had a preference over, but admitted he had held talks with Aprilia prior to joining Pramac Ducati ahead of ’15.
“For many years we tried to find an agreement with Aprilia but, in the end, the choice of continuing down this path paid off, where starting from the bottom lead me to the official Ducati team,” said Petrucci.
“Now there has been a lot of interest in their new bike. But they too are experiencing a very delicate situation with the riders. Aleix deserves the renewal, and there is the Iannone question, which nobody knows how it will end.
“Given that I am sorry, because I respect Andrea very much, so I would be sorry to see him free up his ride because he of his sentence.
“I would like to complete what has been done so far because last year, although the second part of the season declined, it was my best season.
“Since I started racing I have always improved, and I want to improve further. I don’t feel fulfilled and complete.”
Petrucci added that he was impressed by the pace of Aprilia’s new RS-GP machine in pre-season testing, and his surprise that Espargaro had decided to call time on a KTM project that made good strides forward last season-believing his experience could be just what the Austrian marque needs to continue its forward progress.
“Absolutely, KTM interests me. Aprilia also interests me, the new bike has raised a lot of curiosity because it was quick right away, which is rarely seen in racing. The tests were very strong, so I would like to go to Aprilia. I would like to go to KTM because they also have a growing trend.
“In fact, Pol Espargaro’s decision to leave is a bit surprising, since he was the cornerstone of the project.
“But they are two factories that could take advantage of my experience since I have been in MotoGP for a few years, and I’d like to be available for a growing project.
“KTM managed to get a podium, Aprilia still hasn’t, but they are two factories that want to go to the top and I would like to race with one of the two.”
